That was the fastest 6 weeks ever! Back to school, back to bootcamp and everything in between.

Overall I feel like it was a success. There is no doubt that I feel stronger and healthier. I managed to lose a few inches, a few pounds and I definitely increased my endurance. I would say that my biggest success and the thing I pushed myself the most at though were pushups. Does anyone like these things? Six weeks ago I remember seriously dreading the moment that we measured them for the first time, but come last week I knew I had worked hard and was excited to see if I had improved. I had ~ by more than sixty percent! Posture was also something that was discussed during this session, and turns our mine sucks. I have really been working on it and feel like I may just be walking taller.

Thank you to all the moms for their continuing support and to Sabrina for offering this amazing program and for keeping each class refreshing and new.

I look forward to November's session. Goals will include: meal planning, water consumption, increasing my planks and those dreaded pushups, and getting to know new moms.

So this last week was kind of off for me, trying to figure out what's up with my body?

For some reason I'm not as happy, my mood varies ect. So I chatted with Sabrina, my mom (well my mother in-law who I am very close to) and I tried to figure out what is up.

After a while of just chatting and visiting, my mother in law asked what the difference between the me now and the me then (before my weight loss)?

My first thought was .... I was happy when I could eat what ever I wanted, when i wanted! If I was hungry for that Big Mac I'd pull over and go buy myself a Big Mac! Or buy that chocolate bar, chips or fries (ok I guess you get the point lol). Now I find I am catching those thoughts and almost making myself feel bad for even thinking of those thoughts! Or if I do let myself have a "treat" I feel guilty about it! I've went from one extreme to the other!

So now I am just trying to find the balance.

I have thought about this alot and it all comes back to the 80/20 rule (80% you are on track 20% you treat yourself). I have embed no junk food into my brain to the point that my brain has taken it so literal it's effecting me. My next step is to teach myself I can have treats (just not to over do it ;). I also would like to say that when something is happening with you or in your life and you need to chat, pick up the phone, go on Facebook and find someone to talk to because if I didn't talk to anyone and kept things to myself I would still be feeling crappy and that's not good for you or your body. On a high note....... I am now 80 pounds lighter! 180 pounds (note: at the beginning of my weight loss journey back in January 3, 2011 I weighed in at 260.5 pounds!!!!)

Starting off the race as a big group! Hundreds of people down at Riverside Park! This was a total change of pace from just running by myself or with our group of momma's :D

I completed 5K for Run for the Cure (Oct 2/11). This was one of my goals that I had set out for myself back when I first started taking up jogging, so to cross that finish line was an amazing feeling! I completed the race under 30 minutes! I still can't believe I did it that fast! I definatly can't wait for next years race!

I think back to when I first started my weight loss journey and you honestly would have never caught me running or jogging ever! The thought didn't even cross my mind! 8 months later and here I am finishing my first 5K race and LOVING IT!

Sabrina looking down on me as I huff, puff and grunt my way through push ups? CHECK!!

We are in full blown bootcamp mode - and I am loving every single minute of it. I forgot just how good it felt to have this in my life. We are in week 3 of the mommy challenge and I am already beginning to feel transformed. Don't get me wrong there are days when I just don't feel like going, I drop my oldest off at preschool and think about how nice it would be to swing by Tim Hortons get a steeped tea and a breakfast bagel and sit at home with the bebe. Then I remind myself that bagels are NOT on my meal plan (and neither is the bacon you know they'd just happen to add), I made a commitment to myself to see this through, and if I don't go there might be someone who doesn't have a partner and how could I let that lovely lady down?

So needless to say, I have been to every class and am seeing results because of it. I have lost inches and I know I am getting stronger. I am able to do more push ups, hold a plank longer, squat deeper and I even ran, in front of people (it was terrifying and liberating). I am determined to beat my score of 33 seconds or at the very least not feel like I am going to pass out afterwards. I would also like to shed a few more inches, specifically some of the spare tire, muffin top and bra bulge. My biggest struggle is food. I hate to cook and I find it nearly impossible to meal plan but hope to make this part of our weekly routine.

I consider myself an average woman. I am married to my best friend, we have two beautiful daughters and I have always participated in some level in a sport (beer league slo – pitch is still considered a sport, right?!) I chased my little girl around, cleaned the house and maybe went for the odd walk but never thought much about it until I started realizing that my clothes were getting tight and each trip to the mall seemed to bring on a new size: medium – large – extra (gulp) large and so on. I had just had my second daughter and stumbled across a Facebook post on a popular mom site, someone had started a roller derby league!

Long story short, I started, I loved it but holy Hannah I didn’t think I was cut out for it. After about the fourth practice I came home and knew I needed to decide to either going to quit and walk away a without really trying or I was going to find something to help me shed some pounds and strengthen. Again, Facebook came to my rescue. After stalking my mommy friends I found it, Fit By Design, I could bring the baby and work out. Done.

Not only did Sabrina offer the butt kicking I had been looking for but she along with guest speakers and the other moms introduced new ideas into my life. Like for example, it really doesn’t matter as much about the number on the scale or the letter on the inside tag of that new shirt as it does about how you feel and how you rock that new shirt. I also realized that it was actually ok for me to want things for myself and that I didn’t have to carry around the guilt I’d had on my shoulders since I walked through the door. I felt like I already left my family for derby twice a week and now during the time I had with just my youngest I was working out. I have never felt so relieved, then to hear other moms talk about sharing those same feelings that had brought on said guilt – phew! I wasn’t a bad mom after all.

After my session with Sabrina I had lost over 10 inches and I felt like a new me – maybe the truth was I felt like the old me. The lessons I learned will always be with me, but those inches I lost were a whole other story. I’m not going to lie, a summer filled with good food, camping trips and a few drinks (just a few!) have definitely caught up to me and I was starting to fall back into that couch potato mode.

So here I am, back again, pleading with Sabrina to help bring me back from the depths of chocolate cookies and marshmallows and back to the active healthy mom I need to be. I look forward to meeting some new moms and learning from their life experiences. If I want to continue to play the sport that I love, I can’t afford to slack off anymore (yes, I willingly allow other women to knock me down. Repeatedly. Love.) I know with Sabrina’s help and the group’s support I can achieve my goals for this 6 week session.

When Sabrina asked if she could do a success story on me, I was like "yea sure", not thinking I'd have to talk in front of a crowd of people :S So the night before I.C.E., after boot camp, she was telling me her plans and she says "So, when your doing your speech..." I looked at her and said "Wait a minute I have to do a speech? As in talk in front of people???"

I don't feel comfortable speaking in front of crowds :S So that night I sat and wrote down my thoughts and feelings about how I felt when I first started (which was I thought I was going to die! But after my first work out I was so energetic and wanted to do more! I believe I even cleaned the house that day!) After writing out my speech I felt pretty good about it all (although that could have been the glass of wine talking though lol!)

At the actual event I was so nervous even though I've seen most of the mommies before, it was just hard knowing everyone is looking at you while you talk and it's not like I was talking about a project or anything, I was talking about me, and an emotional part about what I've been going through with my life. Sabrina took 70 pounds of weights and put them in a wagon for everyone to see how much was lost and it was defiantly amazing to feel how much weight that was!

How did I function weighing what I did?

No wonder I had no drive to do anything!

Since my change into the healthy new me my husband also has lost weight! Just in the change of foods I've been making for dinner and making positive food choices! Thank you Sabrina and all you momma's I work out with! I wouldn't be able to do it with out all your support ;)